"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung. In Mr. McClung’s blog post “What I’ve Learned This Year” he shares the lessons and philosophy he has acquired from his first year as a teacher. When he first started teaching he said he had a hard time with his lesson plans being effective because he was focusing more on administrations assessment of his lessons rather than his students. He suggests that teachers should let the audience drive the instruction leaving room for adjustments depending on student’s comprehension. This requires flexibility in planning lessons and embracing change in it as it happens. McClung urges the importance of developing communication skills and states that the only way to increase our communication skills is to just practice it. Good communication includes good listening and sometimes as a teacher you may be the only one listening to that child. As a teacher it is important to not have to high expectations of our students or be too hard on them. It is our jobs to pick them up when they fail, dust them off and inspire them to move forward. McClung makes a great point to remember that technology is our friend and must be used and embraced in the classroom. His final point is never stop being a student yourself. As teachers it’s hypocritical to not embrace and pursue new information while asking our students to do it everyday. We have to be open to changing the way we think, the way we learn and our style to be a good teacher.
I thought Mr. McClung’s blog post was inspiring because as a student pursuing a degree in Education I am often told from other first year teachers that I will hate it. It’s refreshing to be exposed to such a positive outlook. This blog I think would be beneficial for all future teachers to read in order to help them be better prepared. I know that we have to go through things ourselves to really learn them but it certainly helps to come into it advised and with a positive perspective. My favorite part in his blog is his statement about technology he stated “...just jump in head first, the water feels fine.” This is a great metaphor for an attitude that needs be applied to all aspects of teaching and life that we are unfamiliar with. We have got to just not be afraid to jump in and do what needs to be done. As teachers our job is way to important to let rigid thinking and fear of something new stop us.We are models for our students and I think it is so important to model openness, flexibility, communication, caring, joy and fearless pursuit towards knowledge.
Excellent post Regina!
ReplyDeleteTeaching is an extremely important job. It requires a lot of hard work, thought and reflection. Mr. McClung’s post is an example of the kind of reflection it takes to be a good teacher. As teachers we must constantly reflect on what we are doing, why we are doing it, and whether or not what we are doing benefits the students. I believe that as long as we do this and keep the students in the center, all of the rest of it will fall into place. SS
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ReplyDeleteAt first, this semester, I would have disagreed with the outlook of most people towards technology in the classrooms but now, after going through the semester and seeing how we can use this advancing technology, I agree with the use of technology. As teachers we are tasked with opening the minds of our students. We teach required material to the students, but what are they really learning? In today's society we have to incorporate technology because the youth of today has grown up using these technological tools. Alot of us as teachers, grew up in a different learning environment so we have to keep our minds open to new things as well as opening our students minds to learning new material. No one knows what the future may hold as far as advancements in technology, so try something new and see what happens, it's a 50/50 chance of success and so far it has been technolgy with the one sided comparison.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that as long as we keep our students needs first that we are doing our job and bettering our future, which is our students!